MONO LAKE VOLCANO

PANUM CRATER, CALIFORNIA

Type: Volcanic Plug-Dome Crater

Diameter: length 0.77 Km, width 0.65 Km

Age: <700 years

Location: Mono Lake, California, USA – N 37° 55.8’ W 119° 02.7’

This volcanic chain stretching ten miles north to south and topping 9,000 ft. may be the youngest volcanic mountain range in North America. The last eruption in the Mono Craters chain occurred less than 700 years ago at Panum Crater (circled).Panum Crater, located just above the south shore of Mono Lake, is not a true crater. It is more accurately a plug-dome volcano, where cooled lava has created a massive dome-like structure that now “plugs” the volcanic vent at the bottom of the crater. I took this image from GOZooM while gaining height to fly over the Sierra Nevada Mountains (a challenge!).

The entire Mono Craters chain is actually a series of plug dome volcanoes that erupted into existence within the last 40,000 years. Odds are the Mono Craters will erupt again.